#voidscarred

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Mike's done an Eldar book

[feyd-rautha-apologist]

[barpsy-abaub]

Ra’thar Kyldran, the Warlock of Ilmaren

"Voidscarred", Mike Brooks

...time for experiments! Note that this character is described as having a darker tone of skin; no "recoloring" took place. Dark-skinned Eldar are a challenge, especially when it comes to keeping an alien vibe, but I'm relatively content with the result.

[xiz0r]

Taenar Leotharan from the Voidscarred novel

[blesby]

Opulent leisure of the main couple from Voidscarred 🫶

[lielilies]

The Aeldari and Transness

I recently read both of the Mike Brooks novels featuring Aeldari: Queen of Knives, and Voidscarred and I loved both of them, but something about the portrayal of queerness stuck with me. Although human society is not shown in either of these books for direct comparison I can't help but view the Aeldari's queerness as being used to other them and their society as something alien. 

I really do love the representation they bring, the fact that both books have same sex relationships as motivating forces integral to the story, and that Voidscarred portrays gender non conformity in a very casual way that doesn't need to be addressed. I love how these themes are allowed to just be in the story without me feeling like queerness was being carefully explained to my conservative father, but the fact that transness is baked into Aeldari society through howling banshees and wyches being gendered paths, and the Aeldari being able to change their sex characteristics at will, makes transness part of their culture, and while that has the potential to be interesting it isn’t explored at all beyond nods to it existing, at least in the books I read. 

This is more a problem with the setting than with Mike Brooks in my opinion, but it just leads to this feeling that transness is being used to make this alien society feel alien in the same vein as how they’re long lived and “sing” their technology into existence, or any of the other paths that change an Aeldari’s mind and body in some way, and that’s a sentiment I feel a little at odds with as a trans person. I don’t think transness should be something used to other, even if it is just background lore, and maybe I should take it all at face value and just be happy trans characters exist in the setting at all, but with how America has been waging war against transness in the real world it is a piece of this setting that has been rattling around in my brain. My existence is not something alien.

[a-neru-neru]

A piece of Myrin Stormdawn and Taenar Leotharan from bluesky!

[glitchplague]

Myrin Stormdawn and Taenar Leotharan from Voidscarred novel commission for @ powerbombot from BlueSky 🖤